Let me introduce you to Jennifer Maravillas. She's a freckled pixie VCU alum from the Eastern suburban milds of Virginia Beach that's been gracefully transplanted to the Western wilds of San Francisco. She's an artist, adventurer and gatherer of neighborhood detritus. She has, amongst other things, created the visually striking colorful maps posted here in this blog and is soon to be the creative force behind the next print edition of this site, Gungho Guides.

Her maps have been featured in Juxtapoz, SF Egotist, Good magazine and others for her iconic map of San Francisco. I'm personally partial to the Manhattan one, but hell, I miss home sometimes. The Richmond edition features a colorful block-by-block woodcut of Richmond's nightlife and retail hotspots stretching from Libbie and Grove down to Church Hill. Bryan Woodland, of Brain Drain, Audio Ammo and RVA magazine infamy will be collaborating to lay out the editorial reviews and bring the piece together as a completed piece of urban memorabilia.

I've been on a mission to provide Richmond with an iconographic work of art that will find a home on our collective walls the way New Yorkers display prints of, well, the New Yorker and skyline views of the borough bridges flanked by monuments of steel. Jennifer has been bringing her passion for places she's called home to this project and every new development and piece I get to see of it makes me swell with pride (either that or I shouldn't have had that second burrito.) I'm seriously f'ing giddy.

If that wasn't enough, check this out. Jennifer is right now working on a map of Brooklyn that will combine found imagery and traditional cartography. When I say traditional, I mean she's actually going to walk the entire city and collect scraps of who knows what from every single block to collage over top her drawing. I've got shin splints thinking about it. You should keep up with her on her blog 71 Square Miles as she trudges through the mayhem that is the BKN.
My envy, respect, admiration and gratitude are extended to her. I suspect you'll be seeing her work all over town this Summer.